About Sam Johnson
Sam Johnson is a voice teacher, author, and vocal educator based in Austin, Texas. He has taught voice for more than 13 years, working with everyone from beginning singers to professional performers and voice teachers around the world.
Sam is the Director of Education, a board member, and a mentor teacher for IVTOM (International Voice Teachers of Mix). He is also the author of Open Your Mouth: Learn How to Learn How to Sing. His vocal analysis and education videos on YouTube have received more than 90 million views, and his channel has more than 600,000 subscribers.
Teaching
Sam believes that learning to sing should involve learning how to learn. Rather than giving students a list of rules about what singing is supposed to feel or sound like, he encourages them to experiment with their voices, notice what changes, and develop a better understanding of their own instrument.
His teaching draws from voice science, acoustics, contemporary and classical vocal pedagogy, and years of listening to a lot of people make a lot of noises. Depending on the student, a lesson might involve anatomy and acoustics, strange vocal exercises, working through a specific technical problem, or singing a song over and over while changing one small thing at a time.
The goal is not to make every singer sound the same. It’s to help people develop the coordination, flexibility, musicality, and understanding they need to sing the music they want to sing.
Background
Sam earned his degree in vocal performance from Westminster College, where he studied with Dr. Marc Reynolds. He has continued his education with voice teachers including Dean Kaelin, John Henny, Mark Baxter, and Teeri Stock.
Before establishing his current studio, Sam spent 18 months teaching in Hong Kong as an associate teacher at CSMA Studio. He taught amateur and professional singers, led group classes and musical theatre intensives, and conducted the J.P. Morgan Managing Directors’ Choir in 2013 and 2014, helping raise more than HK$5.8 million for charity.
Sam now teaches singers worldwide through online lessons from his studio in Austin.